New Jersey Southern RR and connections The New Jersey Southern Railroad was a railroad that started in 1854. It would continue under this name until the 1870s as a separate company and the lines that it had constructed or run continued to be run in the New Jersey Southern name until the early 2000s.

Raritan and Delaware Bay Railroad

The New Jersey Southern Railroad (NJS) began life as the Raritan and Delaware Bay Railroad Company (R&DB), in March 1854. The R&DB was chartered to construct a railroad from the

Raritan Bay Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west by P ...

Cape Island Cape May consists of a peninsula and barrier island system in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is roughly coterminous with Cape May County and runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. The so ...

(Cape May), near the outlet of the

Delaware Bay Delaware Bay is the estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the northeast seaboard of the United States. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The bay is bordered inlan ...

. It was to form part of a rail and water route from the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

area to the

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

area.New York Times, 20 June 1860 The man behind it was William A Torrey, who owned in the area of present-day Lakehurst. Construction began in 1858 from Port Monmouth on Raritan Bay. The first segment opened in June 1860 ran south via Red Bank as far as

Eatontown Eatontown is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the borough's population was 12,709,Long Branch on the shore. It was the first railroad to reach Long Branch. Summer service in the first year was three train and boat trips per day in each direction. This first section included what would remain the two largest engineering works on the line: the long pier at Port Monmouth and the

Navesink River The Navesink River is an estuary, approximately 8 mi (12 km) long in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. It is surrounded by the communities of Middletown, Red Bank, Fair Haven and Rumson. Known officially as the North Shr ...

bridge at Red Bank. Later in 1860 the main line was opened as far as Lakewood. As construction continued, instead of turning southeast at Lakehurst to Toms River and parallel to the shore to Cape May, the main line continued southwest, opening to Whiting ( Manchester Township) and Atsion (now in

Wharton State Forest Wharton State Forest is the largest state forest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the largest single tract of land in the state park system of New Jersey, encompassing approximately of the Pinelands northeast of Hammonton. Its protected ...

) in 1862. The route passed through the center of the lightly populated

Pine Barrens Pine barrens, pine plains, sand plains, or pineland areas occur throughout the U.S. from Florida to Maine (see Atlantic coastal pine barrens) as well as the Midwest, West, and Canada and parts of Eurasia. Perhaps the most well known pine-barre ...

, and was connected to towns on

Barnegat Bay Barnegat Bay is a small brackish arm of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately long, along the coast of Ocean County, New Jersey in the United States. It is separated from the Atlantic by the long Island Beach State Park (colloquially called a "ba ...

only by stages running on public roads. A branch to Toms River was opened later, in 1866, and extended to Waretown in 1872. The reason for the Pine Barrens routing soon became clear. In September 1862, the R&DB and the Camden and Atlantic Railroad began operating a through service between the New York City market (specifically, in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

once a day, without change of trains between Port Monmouth and Camden. (New Jersey trains would only begin entering New York City in 1910 with the opening of

Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...

.) To make this possible the two railroads had built a connecting line from Atsion to

Atco Atco or ATCO may refer to: Businesses * ATCO, a Canadian diversified company involved in manufacturing, utilities, energy and technologies ** ATCO Electric, a subsidiary of the above company * Atco (British mower company), a mower manufacturing com ...

on the Camden and Atlantic Railroad. As roundabout as it was, this service caused controversy because it broke the state-authorized monopoly of the

Camden and Amboy Railroad The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ&CC) was a railroad company which began as the important Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A), whose 1830 lineage began as one of the eight or ten earliest permanent North AmericanList of Earliest Am ...

for travel between Jersey City and Philadelphia. But as the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

put demands on the railroads to transport troops and materials, the

proved notoriously unable to handle the traffic on its one-track main line across New Jersey, and the R&DB rapidly became a valuable alternate route. 17,500 troops were sent via the R&DB over nine months starting September 1862. But the

took the matter to court, and tried to use its influence in the state legislature to dissolve the R&DB, while the R&DB appealed to the United States Congress to protect its operation. Through service to Camden was discontinued in February 1866, and in December 1867 the R&DB lost its case on appeal and was ordered to close the section of line from Atsion to Atco, making it impossible for passengers to travel to Camden even by changing trains. The Camden and Amboy's zealous defense of its rights is all the more remarkable because the monopoly was set to expire on January 1, 1869. The

further weakened the R&DB by supporting a competing service to Long Branch. The Long Branch and Sea Shore Railroad was opened in 1865 from Spermaceti Cove on

Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern en ...

down the narrow

sand spit A spit or sandspit is a deposition bar or beach landform off coasts or lake shores. It develops in places where re-entrance occurs, such as at a cove's headlands, by the process of longshore drift by longshore currents. The drift occurs due t ...

to a station in Long Branch near the R&DB station. This route was shorter and faster both by sea and land than the R&DB route, which had been built incidental to the main line to southern New Jersey. The

supplied the locomotives and cars for the new road. The LB&SS would later become part of the New Jersey Southern. The R&DB company, having exhausted its limited resources on the fight with the

, went into bankruptcy, and was reorganized under new management as the New Jersey Southern Railroad near the end of 1869. That summer, a cooperative arrangement with the

permitted operation of a train service from Philadelphia to Long Branch, via Trenton,

New Jersey Southern Railroad

The new company was created by railroad financier

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made hi ...

. He had first taken over the Long Branch and Sea Shore Railroad, when it was of no further interest to the Camden and Amboy, and improved it by extending it farther north on Sandy Hook to Horse Shoe Cove. From this base he then acquired the former R&DB. The Horse Shoe Cove dock was more sheltered than Port Monmouth, and its better access to Long Branch made it the preferred route for the combined railroads. Boat service to Port Monmouth was discontinued about 1871. Trains now ran through from Sandy Hook to Long Branch to Eatontown Junction and from there down the NJS main line to southern New Jersey. Some service continued to run on the old NJS route from Port Monmouth via Red Bank to Eatontown. Meanwhile, down in south Jersey, the main line was finally extended to Delaware Bay, but not by the NJS. The Vineland Railway started at the end of the NJS at Atsion, crossed the Camden and Atlantic at

Winslow Junction Winslow may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Winslow, Buckinghamshire, England, a market town and civil parish * Winslow Rural District, Buckinghamshire, a rural district from 1894 to 1974 United States and Canada * Rural Municipality of Winslow ...

, and reached the agricultural town of

Vineland ''Vineland'' is a 1990 novel by Thomas Pynchon, a postmodern fiction set in California, United States in 1984, the year of Ronald Reagan's reelection.Knabb 2002 Through flashbacks by its characters, who have lived the sixties in their youth, th ...

in 1870. This company was backed by

Charles K. Landis Charles Kline Landis (March 16, 1833 – June 12, 1900) was a property developer in South Jersey, who was the founder and developer of Vineland, New Jersey, Vineland and Sea Isle City, New Jersey, Sea Isle City. Career His first foray as a d ...

, the founder of Vineland as a somewhat utopian community. The railway was continued onward to Delaware Bay at Bay Side in 1871. The New Jersey Southern's plan now was to reach

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

by means of the Vineland Railway, a boat across Delaware Bay, a railroad across the

Delmarva Peninsula The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a large peninsula and proposed state on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the vast majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore regions of Maryland and Virginia ...

, and a boat across

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

, according to a statement issued in 1873 over the signature of Jay Gould, President. The only lengthy NJS branch in south Jersey ran from Bridgeton to a place called Bivalve, on the

Maurice River The Maurice River (Berkery, Sheri"Do you know how to pronounce these S.J. town names?" '' Courier-Post'', September 5, 2019. Accessed January 26, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Maurice River/Maurice River Township: MAW-ris, instead of More-eece. So ba ...

in Port Norris. It was opened in 1872 by the

Bridgeton and Port Norris Railroad Bridgeton may refer to: Scotland *Bridgeton, Glasgow South Africa *Bridgeton, Western Cape United States *Bridgeton, Indiana *Bridgeton Township, Michigan *Bridgeton, Missouri *Bridgeton, North Carolina *Bridgeton, New Jersey *Bridgeton, ...

, but connected at Bridgeton not with the NJS but with the

West Jersey Railroad The West Jersey and Seashore Railroad (WJ&S) was a Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary in the U.S. state of New Jersey with a connection to Philadelphia. It was formed through the merger of several smaller roads in May 1896. At the end of 1925 i ...

running to Camden. The principal commodity was

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

s, at that time plentiful in the area and much in demand. The NJS did not acquire this line until 1887, after the B&PN company had failed and it was reorganized as the

Cumberland and Maurice River Railroad Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

. Also at this time two connecting lines were built in central Jersey, both from Whitings. The

Pemberton and New York Railroad Pemberton may refer to: People *Pemberton (surname) Places Pemberton is the name of several places: Australia *Pemberton, Queensland, a neighbourhood in Windemere in the Bundaberg Region *Pemberton, Western Australia Canada *Pemberton, British ...

ran west to meet a railroad from Camden near Pemberton. The other, the

Tuckerton Railroad The Tuckerton Railroad was a railroad that operated in New Jersey from 1871 to 1936. The Southern New Jersey Railroad operated part of the line from 1937 to 1940. History 19th Century In 1871, The railroad was brought to Tuckerton largely tha ...

, ran southeast to reach the bay towns from Waretown (which was also on the NJS's branch from Lakehurst) to Tuckerton. Gould lost control of the New Jersey Southern Railroad company in the

Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the "Lon ...

and it went into receivership. Rail service to the Monmouth County coast was revolutionized by the opening of the

New York and Long Branch Railroad The New York and Long Branch Railroad was a railroad in central New Jersey, running from Bay Head Junction in Bay Head to Perth Amboy, where it connected to the Central Railroad of New Jersey's Perth Amboy and Elizabethport Railroad. The railr ...

(NY&LB) in 1875 from

Perth Amboy Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,436. Perth Amboy has a Hispanic majority population. In the 2010 census, th ...

to Long Branch. It was the so-called "all rail route" from

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Central Railroad of New Jersey The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...

. The NY&LB crossed the NJS original mainline at Red Bank and the NJS mainline via Long Branch on the west side of town at Branchport. This was the third railroad to Long Branch, and it rapidly became the primary route. The time by rail from New York (including a ten-minute ferry ride to Jersey City) was about 1 hour 40 minutes. The "bay route" to Sandy Hook took about 2 hours but writers of the period considered it the more pleasant journey, at least in good weather. The New York and Long Branch was extended by separate companies to

Sea Girt Sea Girt is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 1,828,Point Pleasant in 1880. The idea of connecting New York and Philadelphia by the former R&DB was revived for about two years from 1878 to 1880. The rail portion of the new route ran from Sandy Hook via Long Branch, Eatontown, Whitings, and Pemberton to Camden. Travellers could leave New York by boat at 11:00 in the morning and arrive at Philadelphia by ferry at 4:20 in the afternoon. The Pennsylvania Railroad acquired the Pemberton route in 1879, and used it and new construction to create a new route from Camden to Long Branch in 1881, running via a new line from Whitings to Toms River and

Seaside Heights Seaside Heights is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 2,887,Bay Head Junction A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

, just south of Point Pleasant. The Pennsylvania likewise rerouted the trains from Philadelphia off the NJS in 1880, running instead by a new line to Sea Girt and then up the new NY&LB. The section of the NY&LB from Long Branch to Point Pleasant therefore had trains to both New York and Philadelphia, but not through service, and the possible journeys involving the NJS bay route to Long Branch and a change of trains to the Pennsylvania Railroad were not promoted. The New Jersey Southern was formally acquired by the Central Railroad of New Jersey in September 1879, although a CNJ timetable of July 1878 shows that the NJS was already operated by the CNJ at that date. The CNJ moved to consolidate operations of the rail and bay routes. A new link was built in 1878 from the NJS Long Branch station, now called East Long Branch, to the NY&LB at West End, on the south end of the town. The main services from New York were now: Jersey City to Point Pleasant over the New York and Long Branch; Sandy Hook to East Long Branch and (via the new link) to Point Pleasant; and Jersey City to southern New Jersey, turning off the New York and Long Branch at Red Bank into the NJS main line. The old NJS main line from Port Monmouth to Red Bank was downgraded to a branch with minimal train service. The NJS line from East Long Branch to Eatontown saw a few trains that allowed passengers to use the bay route and connect at Eatontown for southern New Jersey.

Southern Division, Central Railroad of New Jersey

The last railroad related to the NJS, Atlantic Highlands route, was not built until after the CNJ took over operations.

Atlantic Highlands Atlantic Highlands is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, in the Bayshore Region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,385,Matawan on the New York and Long Branch was opened to Keyport by the Freehold and New York Railroad in 1880 and extended by the locally financed

New York and Atlantic Highlands Railroad New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

to Atlantic Highlands in August 1889. The route crossed the old NJS line to Port Monmouth at Belford, and a track connection was made there. The record is no longer clear, but it appears that in addition to the primary service from Jersey City to Atlantic Highlands by rail, some trains also operated in connection with boats from New York, running from Atlantic Highlands pier down the old NJS to Red Bank and Eatontown. A notice from 1892 reports special trains to

Monmouth Park Racetrack Monmouth Park Racetrack is an American race track for thoroughbred horse racing in Oceanport, New Jersey, United States. It is owned by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and is operated under a five-year lease as a partnership with ...

running this way. The Atlantic Highlands route was further extended along the shoreline to the

Shrewsbury River The Shrewsbury River is a short stream and navigable estuary. The stream is approximately 8 mi (13 km) long and is located in Central New Jersey. It extends east-northeast from its head of navigation at Oceanport to its confluence with ...

in 1890. The Central Railroad of New Jersey acquired the entire route in 1889. The connection between Atlantic Highlands and the New Jersey Southern routes was made in 1892 with the construction of a railroad bridge over the Shrewsbury River and the closing of the Sandy Hook boat docks. Sandy Hook was a military base, Fort Hancock, and more land was now needed for weapons testing, so the dock and railroad that had been allowed on the federal property now had to go. From May 1892, the boats now ran to Atlantic Highlands, only, and the shore trains ran from there, over the new bridge, and down the old route to East Long Branch. For more than forty years this routing via Atlantic Highlands continued to be known as the Sandy Hook Route. As explained only the portion along the shore was part of the NJS, and even that was not part of the original Raritan and Delaware Bay Railroad. SS ''Asbury Park'' The bay route was shut down in the cold months by some date in the 1880s. Some all-rail trains to Atlantic Highlands continued on to East Long Branch, and in the off season they were the only train service. However, from May to October the bay route was very busy indeed, with summer resident commuters, vacationers, and day visitors. For many years boats left Pier 10 North River, adjacent to the CNJ ferry slips at the

Liberty Street Ferry Terminal Liberty Street Ferry Terminal or Liberty Street Terminal was the Central Railroad of New Jersey's passenger ferry slip in lower Manhattan, New York City and the point of departure and embarkation for passengers travelling on the Central Railroad of ...

, at 04:30, 10:15, 15:45, and 17:00, taking about an hour to reach Atlantic Highlands. The service was operated by two boats, ''Monmouth'', built in 1888, and ''Sandy Hook'', 1889. As summer traffic continued to increase, a third boat, ''Asbury Park'', was added in 1903, and a new stop was added at Pier 81 North River (42nd St) in 1905. Information available for the summer of 1915 shows nine round trips, and most boat trips connected at Atlantic Highlands with four boat trains: a Point Pleasant express, a Long Branch express, a Long Branch local, and a shuttle to Atlantic Highlands. Extra trains were sometimes added to accommodate crowds, particularly northbound on Sunday nights. A few Long Branch express trains continued to Eatontown to connect with trains to southern New Jersey. ''Asbury Park'', the largest boat, was sold after the 1916 season as no longer needed. The two older boats were kept running well into the automobile age, but ''Monmouth'' was retired after 1938 as worn out, leaving only ''Sandy Hook'', which made the last run on the bay route in 1941. ''Sandy Hook'' went into war service in 1943 and was sold in 1946 for a hefty $75,000. Any hopes for a resumption of service after the war had been dashed when a hurricane in September 1944 destroyed both the Atlantic Highlands pier and parts of the railroad along the shore to the Shrewsbury River. The railroad along the shore was rebuilt, but did not last much longer. Passenger service from Highlands over the Shrewsbury River bridge and south to East Long Branch was eliminated in 1945. This ended passenger operations over the original Long Branch and Sea Shore Railroad and the original Long Branch branch of the Delaware and Raritan Bay Railroad, built in 1865 and 1860 respectively. Service was cut back to Atlantic Highlands in 1958 and eliminated (Matawan to Atlantic Highlands) in 1966. In the 1990s, most of the route from Matawan to Atlantic Highlands was made into the

Henry Hudson Trail The Henry Hudson Trail is a rail trail in western and northern Monmouth County, New Jersey. The trail is named for Henry Hudson, who explored the harbor at Atlantic Highlands and the Raritan Bayshore coastline in the early 1600s. The trail is not ...

. The portion of the old NJS from Port Monmouth to Red Bank was abandoned at a now obscure date in the early 20th century. A map and timetable from January 1910 no longer shows it as part of the railroad. The property may have been held together for some time longer. Although this section has been closed for over a century, it can still be traced easily in satellite images by following power line right of ways from the Navesink River between Red Bank and Middletown just east of NJ State Route 35, north across Middletown and through Belford, then towards the shore of Port Monmouth east of the existing pier. Satellite images also reveal a branch in the Compton Creek marshes heading east towards previous and current fish processing facilities. The most well-known trains on the NJS mainline were the fast trains between Jersey City and Atlantic City. "The first direct fast train ever run from New-York to Atlantic City" was inaugurated in January 1889, running down the

to Red Bank, the Southern Division to Winslow Junction, and the

Atlantic City Railroad The Atlantic City Railroad was a Philadelphia and Reading Railway subsidiary that became part of Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in 1933. At the end of 1925 it operated of road on of track; that year it reported 43 million ton-miles of rev ...

, which was acquired by the CNJ in 1883 (and later transferred to the

Reading Company The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly called ...

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

had long been a vacation spot for Philadelphia, while New Yorkers had gone to shore points on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

or the coast near Long Branch. The

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

(PRR) operated through

parlor car A parlor car (or parlour car outside the United States of America) is a type of passenger coach that provides superior comforts and amenities compared to a standard coach. History Parlor cars came about on United States railroads to address the ...

s from Jersey City ( Exchange Place), but by way of Camden, where the cars were switched to Atlantic City trains on the PRR-owned Camden and Atlantic Railroad (the same road that once connected with the NJS predecessor, the Raritan and Delaware Bay Railroad). The PRR later started running through trains from Jersey City to Atlantic City, notably, the ''Nellie Bly,'' as early as 1901. The CNJ management decided in 1928 to recover some of the luxury passengers with trains called the ''

Blue Comet The ''Blue Comet'' was a named passenger train operated by Central Railroad of New Jersey from 1929 to 1941 between the New York metropolitan area and Atlantic City. Designed by Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) president R.B. White in 19 ...

,'' which started operating two round trips a day starting in February 1929. Trains covered the in 168 minutes, including running at on the NJS from Red Bank to Winslow Junction. The service was rerouted to the former Camden and Atlantic Railroad line in 1933 when the

and

system's combined their southern New Jersey services as the

Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines The Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines was a railroad that operated in South Jersey in the 20th century. It was created in 1933 as a joint consolidation venture between two competing railroads in the region: the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Rea ...

, and the ''Blue Comet'' was cut back in 1934 to one round trip a day except in the summer, because of economic conditions. Continuing decline in ridership led to cancellation in September 1941. A timetable of May 1945 shows passenger service cut back to two round trips a day from Jersey City to Red Bank, down the NJS to Lakehurst, and the Toms River branch to Barnegat. The remainder south was for freight only. The last regular passenger service on the former NJS ended in 1957. The very last passenger train was probably a special run to Toms River in 1972.

Conrail and beyond

The Central Railroad of New Jersey was among the railroads merged into

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

in April 1976. Conrail began closing segments of the former NJS, and in 1978 severed the main line by abandoning the stretch through the Pine Barrens from Lakehurst to Winslow Junction. The Toms River branch (diverging at Lakehurst) was closed by 1988. Freight service remains on the NJS main line from Red Bank to Lakewood as part of Conrail's

Southern Secondary The Southern Secondary is a rail line in New Jersey, operated by Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) from South Amboy to Red Bank, and the Delaware and Raritan River Railroad (DRR), a subsidiary of Chesapeake and Delaware, LLC, between Red Ban ...

line. The line from

is run by the SRNJ, The line south of Landisville is out of service after it was damaged by floods in 2003.

New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

proposed passenger service over parts of the NJS in 1996 as a project called MOM (Monmouth Ocean Middlesex). The first draft environmental impact statement was released in 2003. The three study routings run south to the current end of operable track at Lakehurst. One branches off the former New York & Long Branch, now called the

North Jersey Coast Line The North Jersey Coast Line is a commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or com ...

, at Red Bank as NJS trains did. The Boards of Chosen Freeholders (county governments) for

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

and Ocean Counties both announced a preference in 2006 for the

Monmouth Junction Monmouth Junction is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) located within South Brunswick Township, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States.Northeast Corridor Line The Northeast Corridor Line is a commuter rail service operated by NJ Transit between the Trenton Transit Center and New York Penn Station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in the United States. The service is the successor to Pennsylvania Railroad ...

south of

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

and runs over what is now a freight line via Jamesburg and

Freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple *Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...

, entering the former NJS at Farmingdale. The Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders opposed the Monmouth Junction routing, and received support from Governor

Jon Corzine Jon Stevens Corzine ( ; born January 1, 1947) is an American financial executive and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from 2001 to 2006 and the 54th governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. Corzine ran fo ...

early in 2008. Residents of Jamesburg, where the railroad runs in a grassy island in the middle of the main street, were particularly opposed. In September 2008, objections were raised for the first time to the routing based on its path across

Monmouth Battlefield State Park Monmouth Battlefield State Park is a New Jersey state park located on the border of Manalapan and Freehold Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. This park preserves the historical battlefield on which the American Revolutio ...

. Another draft environmental impact statement was to be released in 2009.New York Times, 5 September 2008

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:New Jersey Southern Railroad Defunct New Jersey railroads Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey Transportation in Middlesex County, New Jersey Transportation in Monmouth County, New Jersey Predecessors of the Central Railroad of New Jersey Railway companies established in 1870 Railway companies disestablished in 1879 1854 establishments in New Jersey